Should I nofollow my blog "read more" links?
-
I have a standard blog index page with entries formatted as such:
- Blog title
- Blog excerpt
- read more link
The blog title is linked to the blog post (duh).
The "read more" link is also linked to the same blog post, but I put a rel="nofollow" tag on that link because I don't want the SE's thinking "read more" is relevant anchor text.
Now, is what I'm doing right? Won't having the read more link as nofollow result in some sort of conflict considering the blog title link is set to follow? Will a nofollow link have a cascading effect on any matching "follow" link?
I've frequently read that "read more" should be nofollowed, but I've never once seen anyone address the conflict of having a follow and nofollow link on the same page pointing to the same link. Which one wins?
Thanks.
-
"read more" just makes sense to me. That's what you want people to do isn't it?
If it makes sense for your users AND search engines "get' it....then by all means yes, do it.
Ciao bluekite!
Dana
-
I think that the "read more" link would result in better user experience especially on the main blog page that has a lot of blog titles displayed on it. So yep, don't worry about it, you can keep using it.
-
Thanks Dana. I've been thinking about this for a while and it's nice to have some clarity on the subject.
-
SEO5, do you think it's best to simply not have any "read more" links at all and just let the blog title link serve as the only one? Or am I overthinking this and what I'm asking about doesn't make any real-world difference?
-
Don't worry about adding the "no follow" , Google's smart enough to figure out the duplicate "read more" links on your site and index accordingly. You don't want to cause issues by adding the "no follow" and potentially having any legitimate internal links jeopardized on that page.
-
Hii bluekite,
You need to make that read more link in your blog a "do follow." This is only going to bolster your internal linking structure, which is a VERY good thing. In your case especially this is perfectly relevant and helpful to your readers. I hope that helps!
Dana
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Should I move my blog from subdomain to subdirectory?
Hi there, We have a pretty strong organic presence on our consumer facing blog. Around 5.7 million organic clicks Year to Date. It's currently housed in Wordpress on a subdomain. Our team is considering migrating our blog from Wordpress to Sitecore, where our parent organization resides. With that consideration, we're trying to determine if we should preserve the subdomain or move to a subdirectory of the parent brand. Moving to the parent brand would also result in a loss of our custom global nav - we would inherit the global nav of the parent website. We're not concerned about traffic loss risk - we know that we'll lose some but we think the move to subdirectory might be more beneficial in the long run from an SEO perspective. We're mostly concerned about the users getting lost without the global nav specific to the blog. Thoughts/concerns? Thank you!
Web Design | | Jessdyl0 -
Is The HREF Link "Title" Tag Needed on Mobile Websites?
Hello To Those Who Are Wiser Than I, I am wondering if the href link "title" tag is needed, or serves any purpose, on mobile websites? Also, does it effect SEO in any way? I ask because generally the href link title tag provides more information to the user when they scroll their mouse over the link - but this action does not happen on mobile! Users have no mouse and thus no extra information would be displayed. I'm really wondering if it still matters for SEO purposes on mobile though. -The UnEnlightened
Web Design | | Stew2220 -
Is it still necessary to have a "home" page button/link in the top nav?
Or is it not necessary to have a "home" tab/link because everybody by this time knows you can get to the home page by clicking on the logo?
Web Design | | FindLaw0 -
Using Multiple links/names for the same product?
I am being asked to change these product links on the home page: Home/Condo
Web Design | | RoxBrock
Watercraft/Boat to Home
Condo
Watercraft
Boat (Along with several other product links) How does this affect the customer experience/usability, and SEO? Is it a good idea or is it confusing? Thank you.0 -
How to add author avatar to my blog
hi i have a blog but i cant seem to see an option where i can add author avatar on the blog post. any idea how to do that? im using a wordpress site.
Web Design | | andzon0 -
How to do a non-spammy "doorway page"?
Hi there, ISSUE: I have a client who wishes to use a "doorway" page, but not in a spammy way. He would like to have a nice crisp URL for use in ads/brochures. The page is strictly a landing page (just with a separate URL). DOORWAY/LANDING PAGE WILL BE: Non-spammy -- There will be no attempt to optimize the landing page/no attempt to get the page to rank. Strictly a vanity URL -- he likes the way a separate website looks in ads as opposed to a landing page on the existing website (i.e., www.websitename.com/landing page) WHAT I'M TRYING TO DO: I'm basically trying to figure out what the best things to do to protect his other sites (which are very high quality valuable sites which rank well) from getting punished. STEPS I'M CONSIDERING: Robots no follow Separate hosting server Different person's name on a private domain registration Adding additional pages, so it's not a 1-page "doorway" Many thanks in advance to anyone who would share their experience and help me protect my client in the best way possible. I've told him there are risks, but he still wants to go ahead. MC
Web Design | | marketingcupcake1 -
To link or not to link | Do Follow or No Follow?
I want to link to an event on a separate ticket website from at least 20 major pages. Is it OK to post a description & title & links on those 20 pages that are the same? (duplicate - but account for less than 5% of total on-page content) Do you Link as Do-Follow or No-Follow? ... and why? Or should I just use their ticket widget and plug that registration form into those 20 pages. (There still is a link - do-Follow, but everything stays on the website) I have been getting a lot of confusing answers as to whether have external links as follow or nofollow. If you know of any RECENT resources about the topic based on evidence rather than opinions that would help a lot.
Web Design | | HMCOE0 -
Does disabling the "View Source" functionality prevent Google from crawling a website?
I know Google uses a lot of variables when crawling a website. I wasn't sure if disabling the "View Source" option hindered anything.
Web Design | | innovationsimple0